Features

The cheque’s not even in the post

With £36bn in late payments owed, bigger firms are being told to cough up

Struggling: David Clee often has to wait four months to be paid (Paul Cooper)

David Clee struggles to remember the date of his last pay cheque. “It was several months ago,” the 39-year-old entrepreneur said.

A slump in sales at his software company might explain the lack of salary. Yet sales are fine. Getting paid is the problem.

Total Escrow Solutions, which he started four years ago, is commissioned regularly by central government to work with larger organisations such as Logica, the software giant, and Atos, the technology firm. Such contracts come at a price: Clee often waits four months to be paid for jobs worth about £10,000.

“For a small business it’s a big deal,” said Clee. “We either swallow those payment terms or we don’t get work. They know they can get away with it.”

Clee is not the only entrepreneur struggling to make ends meet while praying for an earlier payday. Small companies can wait for months to be reimbursed for